1) So we know Eli Drinkwitz is recruiting at a level we haven’t seen around here before. The easiest way to quantify that is that last year’s class ended up 20th in the country, which is Missouri’s highest ranking ever. And that’s a basic way to quantify it in relation to other teams. But I was interested in looking a little bit deeper into how the 2021 and 2022 (so far) classes compare to the one that has previously been considered the best in Mizzou history. That was Gary Pinkel’s 2010 class, which was 21st in the team rankings and included six four-stars.
While the number of stars is one measurement, there are tiers within those star groups. 6.1 is a five-star, 5.8-6.0 is a four-star, 5.5-5.7 is a three-star, under 5.5 is a two-star. So it’s not just about the stars, but are you getting upper tier three-stars, lower-tier four-stars, etc. For each of Missouri’s top three classes, I calculated the average recruit ranking, checked how many of the players were 5.6 and higher rated (upper two-thirds three-stars) and how many were 5.7 and higher (upper third-three stars or better)
2022 (9 so far)-5.725 average RR, 7 5.7 or higher, 3 4 stars, all 5.6 or up
2021 (23 total)-5.63 average RR, 11 5.7 or higher, 5 4 stars, 16 5.6 or up
2010 (23 total)-5.74 average RR, 17 5.7 or higher, 6 4 stars, 22 5.6 or up, no 2-stars
By these metrics, the 2010 class is still the gold standard for Mizzou, but 2022 so far is right on its heels. The average RR for that 2010 class was 5.74. I haven’t gone through every class, but I’ve got to think that’s Missouri’s best. There was one player in the class ranked as a 5.5 RR (Greg White) while the other 22 were 5.6 or higher. Seventeen of the 23 (73.9%) were 5.7 or higher, which basically means nearly three-quarters of the class was considered at least among the best three-star prospects in the country or better.
The 2022 class so far is just a tick behind that 2010 class, but has every player ranked as a 5.6 or higher. 77.7% so far are ranked 5.7 or better. The 2010 class had six four-stars, 2022 so far has three, but the class isn’t half finished yet.
The 2021 group was good, but diving a little deeper, it would probably ON PAPER be behind these other two. It was probably the second-best complete class in Mizzou history (2022 is trending better but not there yet).
2) I was also interested in how this compared with the previous five years, where Mizzou recruiting had taken a hit. From 2016-2020, Missouri’s average class ranking was 44.6 (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Mizzou has been a .500 program for the last five years).But the actual numbers are even a little more startling than that. For those five classes, 46.9% of Missouri’s signees were 5.5 or lower. In other words, nearly half the classes for five full years were comprised of either two-star players or players who were 5.5 three-stars, which is considered the low end of that classification. By contrast, only 21.9% of Eli Drinkwitz’s 2021-22 classes fit in that category. Again, one of 23 from the 2010 class would have been in that group.
Recruiting rankings aren’t everything. Some of those sub 5.6 players went on to become very good players. But they do matter. The more highly ranked players you have, the better chance you have of hitting. Can you be the program that takes a bunch of low three-stars and below and turns them into star players? Sure. But it’s very difficult and very rare. Pinkel did it to an extent. Texas Tech and Washington State (not surprisingly, both under Mike Leach) did it. Kansas State did it for a period of time in Bill Snyder’s second run. And even those teams didn’t have sustained runs at the top of the sport. They threatened. They were there for a brief period of time. But they didn’t stay there. To do that, you’ve got to land more high-end talent. Missouri isn’t there by any means. But they’re taking steps in that direction.
3)The latest boost to those rankings was St. Charles defensive tackle Marquis Gracial, who chose the Tigers on Friday over Alabama, Arizona State, Iowa State and Oregon.
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